Every Body Is a Summersalt Body

in the making. Lori Coulter and Rishma Chamberlain. They are the co founders of the director consumer sustainable swimwear brand called Summersault. Reshma is also a chief brand and Digital officer and Lori is CEO and president. Both joining us on the phone in St. Louis Raishma and Laurie. So nice to have you here with us. First of all, Um, welcome, Welcome to Bloomberg Business Week. How are you and what's this past year been like? Well, first of all, thanks

so much for having us. We're really excited to be here in the salt and to tell and share Summersault story. Um, like everyone else, the past year has been a you know, absolute wild ride. But we're really fortunate to be in a space where the consumer where has responded we are, you know, let her when weere and how she wants to be spoken to with with truly an exceptional product. And it's it's you know, in the end, it's been a fantastic year for some results, but not without its

challenges for well. Absolutely and and you know, I was looking at some some stats the global swim wear market. I mean that's probably thin. Taking everybody into account, is something like eighteen nineteen billion dollars. It's a lot. RACI mccomon in on this. You guys are doing it differently. Tell us about your approach. Yeah, absolutely, Thank you again for having us. It's all about the customer. For us, we always put her first swim where had been done

in the most antiquated way for generations and decades. Right, no one was thinking about what women really wanted. We wanted swim where that was functional, comfortable, sexy on our own terms that some resault. We used ten thousand women's body scans at one point million measurements to really define our fit. And then we want to speak to her in a way that she wants to be spoken to.

We want to see ourselves reflected in the marketing that tells us what we should wear or give us ideas, and so we've recently launched at Everybody's a Summer Salt Body campaign that really showcases the incredible diversity that our customer represents, and in the end, we do it all for her and are inspired by her. Well. And it's interesting, Laura, I mean, you've been in the swimsuit business. You know before you understand it, you've seen different cycles. Both of

you understand it. I mean I I was thinking about preparing for this. It's all about fit fabric. Uh, everybody's ever gone bathing suit shopping, At swimsuit shopping, it can be an incredibly frustrating event because not you know, typically it's not always for all kinds of body sizes, your approaches, and having looked at your catalog, I was kind of

blown away. You really embrace everyone who's out there. So so really, our goal along has been to inspire joy in the lives of our consumer and if you think about how to how we all felt at the beach as children, it was really about engaging with life fully having fun, and a swimsuit should be fun and it it really had been been done and this antiquated way that Russima reference over sexualized and dated by the way that doesn't look very modern on social media in the

way that many women are finding brands today. And so there was just such a huge white space for us to go out and present our product in a modern way that really resonated with consumers. And we're really grateful to see, you know, just how much the brand has taken off, and by the way we're doing it in the right way, you know, across the board, from an environmentally friendly approach to the way we're presenting a diverse

set of women, you know, in every way. Well, and it's interesting that you talk about I mean, you're using recycled or recyclable materials. I mean, I've been talking to chief sustainability officers at Walmart, at Cisco, a lot of different places. I mean, this is increasingly a part of the DNA of companies. UM. You are the chief brand officer, I mean, how much does your consumer care about not only great fit and function UM and looking good, but how much in terms of what the company stands for

and how they make the product. How important is that well eco friendliness and sustainability. We believe our table stakes, but we also believe in UM working towards a not perfectionist approach, if that makes sense. A lot of people have, you know, big bars that they cannot reach, and then the consumers can kind of sniff out in authenticity. As Summer soult, it's all about being incredibly honest with our consumers, saying, hey, give us suggestions to do better here. We're asking the

right questions to all our vendors. We're focusing on sustainability and eco friendliness and sharing kind of the true nature of where we are in our journey with our consumer. It's really not about perfectionism. And this is truly a unique approach that Summer solved. Whether that's about inclusivity, whether that's about sustainability, it's a truly human approach because any company that says that they're perfect and this is not

really being authentic. And we really believe and being honest and truthful with our consumer as we kind of navigate this journey together. But it truly is table stakes. This company is big in to kind of become the next generation defining businesses. Lorie, it's Bloomberg. We like to know about a company's velocity. Give me an idea. You started back in May seventeen. So here you are. What four years in tell me about the growth in the business

that you've been seeing. Well, it's been an an absolute rocket ship and a pleasure just to be a part of something that's so much bigger than any of us are individually. But we've seen that rapid growth. It pusses in the top one of venture capital, that consumer facing startups you know, worldwide, which is just phenomenal. And we continue to experience your growth through the COVID year. It was just unbelievable and and are seen that kind of

same accelerated pace throughout. So Richmond, does it stay digital our stores likely at some point. Well, it's all about giving our customers unique experiences. So when we think about retia versus digital, it's all about new and unique ways

in which our customer can interact with our brands. So when we think about retail, we really think about truly experiential retail where we can provide something more than just commerce, where we can provide placemaking, community building and creating a true experience for our community to connect with each other and with our brands. So when we think about retail, we're really thinking about creating something extremely extremely new, fun and a concept where we can blend hospitality and retail.

What does that mean and does that mean stores eventually down the road? Yes, it absolutely means stores down the road. It's really interesting to think about DTC one point and two point or brands that had to build stores to acquire customers. For us, we really had an incredible, thoughtful customer acquisition, incredible organic growth. So when we think about retailer is going to be about placemaking and we're really excited to take that next step. What's the best way

to do that? And Laurie maybe come on in on this. Is it to do it a standalone your own own stores or is it to do it as shops within major retailers or department stores or little bit of both. Um. I think we're committed to the vertical retail UM path, so that would be standalone stores for the most partner. Again, it's about that one to one relationship with our consumer moving forward and in as Rushma mentioned, creating that place where she experienceds Somersault UM as a complete lifestyle and

so we're really excited to take it to the next level. UM. As we think about you know, the next twelve eighteen months, Well, lord, what is that next level? Because I mentioned you know, Swim's you know, you're a swim um where brand, but you really are looking to do it and you did during the pandemic. You moved into pajamas like, you know, things that people were needed at home at that point,

and you pivoted pretty quickly. So so what's interesting is we had already entered many of the apparel categories UM that accelerated through COVID, So we were fortunate to already be in pajamas, cozy, comfy, lounge where at leisure as

well as as everything cozy Kashmir. And what's what's interesting is is that sometimes people like to refer to it as a pivot, but we were actually already in those categories and we're able to build it out UM due to our supply chain speed really rapidly and UM certainly you know, over thirty of our revenue UM comes already from apparel, and so as we continue to build out new categories, that that percentage continues to climb, which was

you know, phenomenal. Where do you see it all going? Um, Raisa, is it eventually an I P O or how do you guys continue to you know, provide the momentum, provide the capital. Can you continue to do it in the private markets? Well, for us, it's really about branding the next generation defining brand and really kind of marching to creating that brand that people have in every corner for our wardrobe. Um, for us, it's not about you know, Laurie and I built two businesses before, and we never

set out to do something small. For us, it was really creating a brand that people in my home country of India can recognize and uh in the smallest towns in Missouri know about some results. So for us, it's about infiltrating essentially every wardrobe in America and the world. And that's what we're here to do, right And this is I mean this, everything that you're doing, um, Laurie is on a global level. Correct Um. Yes, we are selling globally, although on a little secret watch what we

have coming in the next a few months. So from that perspective, sounds like more is coming. Okay. One thing I wanted to ask both of you, it's something that we talk about a lot on Bloomberg and certainly within the venture capital world about you know, the lack of women in senior VC positions, the lack of capital often for women lead or women created businesses. Um Laurie, what's

been your experience. Well, I think what's fascinating and most people don't realize, is that only three percent venture capital dollars goes women founders, and you know, certainly even less it's going to founders in the Midwest. So we're really proud of the fact that we've been able to break through. And I think what investors need to understand is, uh, women founders that are breaking through and getting to the

level that that we're at with Somersault. From attraction perspective, these are these are truly breakout companies, not only from a revenue perspective, but also from you know, just the just the drive to break through and talk to the you know, hundreds of investors that takes to really to circle that dollars. Now, what's interesting now is that Somersault receives you know, almost an endless number of inbounds and regards to you investors looking you know, to fund the

next level of growth for a Somersaults. So from that perspective, we've really reached the threshold. But you know, we believe it's our job as women founders to really boarded the path for those that are coming from from behind us and to really help UM draw attention to the fact that this three percent number has got to change. Yeah. Absolutely, I mean it's just kind of unbelievable. UM the untapped

network and certainly funds going into women businesses. Hey, Rachel, one thing I want to ask you guys, UM, As Laurie reminded me, you guys were already in pajamas you guys is you know, have sweatshirts, you have hoodies, you have a lot of things that UM really appeal to the consumer. Currently, just got about thirty seconds left here. What's the biggest growth part of your business when it comes to the product lines. Well, for us, it's all

about surprising and delighting our consumer. Or pajamas doing incredibly well, Lounge, we're active, We're intimates are incredibly successful for us. For so, it's not about just one category. As you mentioned, it's about ordering every single corner and every drawer in her wardrobe and providing joy to every garment and making it eco friendly and stylish while we do it well, UM, you're hitting on a lot of things that we know

are really really important to consumers right now. Um, I hope you'll come back and let us know how things are going, uh, and how as you continue to expand what's going on and just give us an update. Lori Culter and Racial Chamberlain there are the co founders of Somersault, both joining us on the phone in St. Louis.